Sunday, February 2, 2014

So I’m confident that no one is following this now but it
has been a crazy season of life lately and I really had to eliminate a lot of
stuff. Gonna make a little time to blog now though J

So technically the Roman ruins at the top of the
hill next to the restaurant was closed due to falling rocks. However, my little
entourage was like, “hey, that was a guard eating at the restaurant. Let’s go
hope the fence”! So that’s just what we did. You can tell whose idea is was by
the cheeky grin

A shot down the length of the fence. Kind of a
sweet construction really.

So this is what the landscape looks like in the
Sierra here. Lots of olive trees and a variety of oak.

Up the hill our twisty path took us!

Ah, check out that landscape!! Yep, as you can
imagine the view got sweeter and sweeter as we got higher.

We also managed to see some local wildlife. This
one only stood still for this shot and the following before scampering away in
search… Well, actually I don’t think this animal really does much of anything lol.

Okay, so check this out. This is what’s left of
the Roman road leading up to the old city. Of course after over two thousand
years it’s a little distressed but seriously, touching one of the rocks was an
experience just thinking that it was placed there before Christ was born!

Another sweet landscape shot.

So this is what the mountain looks like. Huge
granite rocks. Oh what lovely counters could be had!

So this is an old mausoleum (where the dead
people go). It was built quite a bit after the Roman ruins and our guide (and
instigator of our illegal hike) said it was made by Christians. That’s about
all the history I know on it though L.

This is a shot through the iron gate. Pretty
sweet inside.

And there be the dead people. It’s all sealed up
now and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was excavated at some point but down this
hole was where they buried the deceased.

The other side.

"Hey ho," says our guide.

So this is the backside of the building. You can
see the holes in the side of it where wooden posts went to add a roof to
another part of the building. You know, it’s really interesting to see these
ruins because they so don’t represent what existed before! It’s like looking at
the foundation of a house and going, “WOW! Looky there.” True they did use a
lot of stone but there was probably a lot of wood as well which is long gone.

Thems some pretty big rocks.

So now the view starts getting really sweet. As
soon as I saw that road off in the distance I thought of big brother and his
car. Yes, I think we’re all in agreement that such a cruise would be the “cat’s
meow.” J

So at the end of the trail there was a gate that
prevented us from going into the ruins. So of course, we decided to hike up the
hill and go around it. Only problem was that the ground was really soft and
loose and I got to do a lot of pushing from below.

And then things got even more interesting when we heard the guard hollering at
us. BUSTED!!! It was so awkward. Oh my goodness, I felt like a little kid
snatching a cookie when mummy popped her head in the kitchen. “I uh, was uh…
alright just spank me and get it over with.”

However, our guide talked the guard into giving
us a tour. Hahaha, listening to the conversation I was like, “wow, she’s really
working him.” And then he finally relented and told us he would give us a tour.
Far out!

So this was the gate to the city. Pretty broken
down but the later stuff was a little more intact.

A view of the valley between the rocks.

A more complete shot. Oo, ah, pretty!

Such a blessing to get to go up there J

Hiking over to the next interesting spot.

So this is a shot back at the gate. It really doesn’t look like much because it was built on a hill and thus can’t be seen very well from this angle, but can you imagine living in this place and having this view of the valley? Those Romans had it made!

The foundation of some buildings. Don’t worry,
they get more impressive.

So this is an old filled in well. Again, it’s
weird to think how old this stuff is!

Alright, so this is the highlight of the tour.
This right here is a cistern but wait until you see what’s inside.

Hiking up to peek into the cistern.

That is WATER ya’ll!!!! We’re talking over two
thousand years of existence and it still holds water!!! Doesn’t that just blow
your mind? My jaw about made a splash when it dropped at the sight. Like, no
way, no way.

Some stoned built against the side of the rock
face. A great idea.

Heading over to the bathhouse!

So these were some hunky pillar bases hanging
out in the middle of the field. To see such big bases you know that there was a
lot more here and I would love to know exactly what.

So this is what the bathhouse faced. Yeah,
again, these Romans had it made. I definitely wouldn’t have had a problem
soaking in the view (pun intended).

The foundation of an old house.

Some other ruins right off to the right of the last shot.

Gotta love it. Chunk of a wall just sitting in
the middle of the field.

Hiking up to another part to see the bath house
ruins better.

And here were the bathhouse ruins!

This was an old well off to the side of the bathhouse.

So here's a more complete view of the what the bathhouse looked like. It's really impressive how flat the floor of the structure has remained through time. It probably has to do with the bedrock the thing is resting on.

A shot back at the city of Ubrique.

Off in the distance in this shot you can actually see the bull fighting arena. Gotta love Spain!

So I hopped down in the bath house here. I'll give you a panoramic in the following shots.

And here was a little channel that they used to pipe the water in. I'm not sure how they heated it but I;m pretty curious.

These are the little acorns that I mentioned earlier. I guess the best ham is made from pigs that have been pastured under these trees. Makes their meat sweet I was told... ah, a little salivation going on right now :-)

A shot back at the bathhouse.

Another little room of the bathhouse. I wish I had more information to know how this thing was divided up.